Top Blue Jays Player #14: Paul
Molitor
Position: Designated
Hitter
Seasons With the
Jays: 3 (1993-1995)
MLB Awards: Silver
Slugger (1993)
All-Star Game
Selection: 1993, 1994
Hall Of Fame
Induction: 2004
Stats: Games Played 405 Batting Average .315
Base Hits 508 Runs
Scored 270
Home Runs 51 RBIs 246
Doubles
98 Triples 11
Stolen Bases 54 Walks 193
Paul Molitor will always be
remembered for his time with the Milwaukee Brewers. But his three years in
Toronto were good enough to place him at #15 on the All-Time Blue Jays’ players
list.
He was a first-round draft pick
by Milwaukee (third overall) in the 1977 Amateur Draft and he made his Major
League debut the following April. In his first year with the Brewers, he played
in 122 games, batted .273, hit six home runs, added 45 RBIs and stole 30 bases.
He finished second to Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers in American League
Rookie of the Year voting.
Over 15 years with Milwaukee,
Molitor put up numbers that would pretty much guarantee his entry into
baseball’s Hall of Fame. He was a five-time All-Star, won two Silver Slugger
Awards and also helped the Brewers to the World Series in 1982 when they lost a
heart-breaking seven-game series to the St. Louis Cardinals.
In 1987, Molitor was making
headlines in August with a 39-game hitting streak. The streak ended with
Molitor in the on-deck circle when teammate Rick Manning won a game for the
Brewers with a walk-off single. The streak was the fifth longest in MLB
history.
After 1992, Molitor became a
free agent, and with the Brewers seemingly in a decline and asking him to take
a pay cut, he chose to sign with the Blue Jays. While primarily a leadoff
hitter in Milwaukee, he was pencilled into the number three spot behind Devon
White and Roberto Alomar (meaning he’d get a lot of chances to drive in runs)
and in front of slugger Joe Carter (meaning he’d see his fair share of decent
pitches.)
In 160 games in 1993 with
Toronto, Molitor would bat .332 (finishing second to teammate John Olerud for
the batting title, while Alomar finished third) hit 22 home runs and became the
oldest player (at 36) to record 100 RBIs (110) for the first time in his
career. He also led the league in hits (211) made the starting All-Star team,
won a Silver Slugger Award and finished second to Frank Thomas for the American
League’s Most Valuable Player.
But he got his revenge against
Thomas when the Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox in six games in the ALCS.
In the playoffs for the first time since 1982, Molitor batted .391, hit one
home run and added five RBIs. The numbers were good, but would be nothing
compared to what he did to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
Molitor would be awarded the MVP
Award of the World Series with his .500 batting average, two double, two
triples, two home runs, eight RBIs and ten runs scored. The Jays defeated the
Phillies in six games.
While the Jays, as a team, would
struggle in 1994 and 1995, Molitor would still put up some decent numbers. In
the strike-shortened 1994 season, he raised his batting average to .341, hit 14
home runs and added 75 RBIs. He tailed off a little in 1995 (.270, 15, 60) and was
granted free agency after the season. He signed with the Twins and played the
final three years of his career in Minnesota.
His most impressive season with
the Twins was 1996 when he became only the second 40-year old in history to
record 200 hits (he finished with 220) and also had an impressive 113 RBIs
despite hitting only nine home runs. To date, he remains the last player to
drive in over 100 runs while hitting less than ten home runs.
On September 16, 1996, Molitor
recorded his 3000 career hit. He would finish with 3319 hits, good enough for
10th on the All-Time list. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in
2004 and became manager of the Minnesota Twins in 2015.
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